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Of Gods and Demons
Summary This will be an IRC game to be held in the #Exalted channel nominally on Saturdays around 19 GMT. It is a game of crazily mixed Exalted. Theme This will be what you want it to be. So therefore expect everything to be overwrought to the point of absurdity. That or a harem anime idk yet. I want this to be Dragon Ball (not necessarily Z)! Player Characters I expect more detail later. *Silver Warrior Guardian (Full Moon Lunar) - xp194 *Jasever, Fire-aspect Outcaste Celestial Martial Artist - AD *Anna Silk, No Moon - Ling *Crystal Heart Prince, Water Aspect Paladin - ErikMesoy *Aeron, Slayer **Pretty open about his desire to conquer Nexus, pretty clueless about what conquering Nexus entails. **Loves fighting, drinking, womanizing. **Acts like he's in charge of the party, but rarely cares about what anyone is doing. *Ariadne, Malefactor - Lian Decapitated by a raving Chimera (love at last!) Party Connections The Campaign Language is Riverspeak. Non Player Characters *Mitrus - First hammered a little by Aeron, then impaled by Crystal Heart Prince, incapacitating him. Was later revived through Prince's needles and then forced to lead the way to the leader of the bandits, Thousand-Leaves. Later swore fealty to Aeron. *Jyg, Manat, Likyp and Kalid: The other former lieutenants under Thousand-Leaves. Later swore fealty to Aeron. *Thousand-Leaves: God-blooded Bandit leader, was defeated by Aeron and forced to swore fealty to him. Is capable of much except fighting an Exalt. Drew a map for Jasever and generally directed the party towards the source of the weird arms and armour. *"Larjyn": The god of the forest the bandit camp was in. He materialised when challenged and the party subsequently crushed him, leaving him to reform at his Sanctum at a much later date. Refused the Perfected Hierarchy. You never actually learned his real name. *Arms Dealer: An alligatorman whom you all met and Aeron managed to cow somewhat into getting him to lead them right into lair of his master. Was previously selling perfect quality arms and armour to Thousand-Leaves's bandits. *Swamp-Leading Blade: Owns a big camp of alligatormen (of relatively horrific aspect) about a strange structure, may be producings the perfect quality gear. Has only been seen in War Form. Was defeated and whisked away by an unknown party. Has turned up again and is ready to eat faces. Full Moon caste. Killed simultaneously by Aeron's hammer, Silver's claws and Jasever's crushing grip. *Other Unknown Essence User: What? WHAT!? THEY STOLE THE LUNAR! May be one of the new Lunars that have shown up. Now we may never know. *Iridescent Clementine: Martial Artist of some kind, shows extreme quickness and sharp claws. Unknown caste. Seemingly has fled. *Venerable Seeker: Sneaky archer type, other abilities have yet to be seen. No Moon caste. Fled. May have had something to do with Raksi. *Half-Castes: Alligatorman-like things who shown uncanny capability. What is this I don't even. Three of the five died, the other two (archers) escaped with Venerable Seeker and Iridescent Clementine. *Gyrt: Mortal, former blacksmith, has been through a lot - observant of Swamp-Leading Blade's deeds. Has likely been swept up by Ariadne's demagoguery. *Hungry Ghost: Hungry Ghost of really well-preserved body of someone who died in the manse's secret areas. Mysterious. Salted. *Lillun: Little Sister the rockstar, partying forever. Congratulated Aeron on his deeds. *Tryptagore: Heranhal that Aeron met and traded Swamp-Leading Blade's axe for a Tainted Starmetal Grand Goremaul. *Nurtu: One of the former slaves. Ariadne swept him up and gave him ALL the Bureaucracy after she convinced all the former slaves to become her savants. Owes Ariadne something. *Unconquered Horizon: Unknown man who Aeron met while walking through Cecelyne. He seems to be going back to the gate that Aeron came through. Appeared before Ariadne and declared himself her bodyguard, but warned her not to abuse such a right, then vanished. Presumably is following her around invisibly at all times. When Ariadne died, he buried her and left. *Saffron King of the Orchid: Changing Moon Caste Lunar Exalt; Parrot totem; Everyone was SUPER SUSPICIOUS of him showing up at one point, but gave names to the Lunars that they had fought previously and did not seem particularly fond of them. Flashy smile. *Captain Jyrax: (former) Mayor of Tyraziq, quite tall, wielded a hammer in battle. Has been CONVINCED. *Captain Damyz: Leader of the Red Oak mercenary company, which may have just been destroyed. The company was based in Tyraziq it seems. *Rilupiro: Mysterious green haired and eyed man. Presumably some form of supernatural martial artist. Was drunk when he first showed up, but spoke of The Bronze Fist tournament in Meresh. A competitor-to-be. *Jari: One of the nominal leaders of Kyziam, rumoured to be Ghostblooded. Sought to meet Aeron in person. A pale, beautiful woman clad in drab colours. *Rajy: One of the nominal leaders of Kyziam, rumoured to be Ghostblooded. Sought to meet Aeron in person. A becloaked, pale man wielding a staff of blue metal. *Lex: A Heroic Agata created by Ariadne from wyldstuff. They wish to become a Brood Mother. *Mardri: A Heroic Stomach Bottle Bug created by Ariadne from wyldstuff. They wish to heal those who Ariadne wishes to live. *Sil: A Heroic Tomescu created by Ariadne from wyldstuff. They wish to have a Celestial Martial Art dedicated to them. *Thing: A strange maddened thing that has seemingly been living on a wyld zone on an island on the Sandy River. Its intentions have yet to be revealed, and neither has its form. Seemingly a Lunar Chimera, and the Lunar Mate to Ariadne. Shame it killed her. Showed prodigous toughness and combat skill, killed Ariadne and then ran off for seemingly unknown reasons. Its totemic image is a swirling silvery cloud of claws and fangs of many creatures. *Armoured Warrior: Tall, clad in height to toe in a strange, dark metal armour that concealed whatever lay beneath entirely. Wields some mystical power, may be another form of Exalt given a caste mark appeared on his brow and when he pushed enough power he went totemic. Totemic was a big armoured spectre that roared silently. Fought with a grand daiklave made of a similar material to his armour - his sword was strange and silent - more silent than a mundane sword would be, at least. Pretended to be a mercenary for some unknown purpose. *Robed Martial Artist: Tall, slender. Had a scythe on him but did not wield it, instead fought unarmed with spurs of bone on his hands. Probably an Exalt too, had a caste mark appear on his brow and went totemic in the form of black wings and a halo of starving raitons. Pretended to be a mercenary for some unknown purpose. *Wretched Hag: With the appearance of an ancient crone, clad in armour hidden beneath a cloak, she was almost supernaturally agile. She seems to be another form of Exalt, having a caste mark appear on her brow and went totemic in the form of cracked, terrifying reflections of the world behind her. Fought by firing bolts of entropic energy. Pretended to be a mercenary for some unknown purpose. *Masked Archer: An unassuming man wearing a mask, wore armour underneath a cloak. Seems to be another form of Exalt, having a caste mark appear on his brow and went totemic in the form of bloody-teared masks on the ends of chains, attached to his back. Fought with the bow made of this dark metal in a supernaturally puissant manner. Pretended to be bother a mercenary and a courtier, for unknown purposes. House Rules - New Chargen Rules. - Lunar/Sidereal/Alchemical Exalted begin with 10 extra BP at character creation. - Terrestrial Exalted begin with 20 extra BP at character creation. - Lunar/Sidereal/Alchemical Exalted gain 1 additional XP for every 10 XP a Solar/Abyssal/Infernal would get. - Terrestrial Exalted gain 1 additional XP for every 5 XP a Solar/Abyssal/Infernal would get. - When a Lunar shapeshifts they may roll Essence, and subtract a number of motes from the cost of the shapeshifting of up to the number of successes rolled. - Essence Crisis - When taking Craft or Linguistics, each dot earns you another Craft or Language which has as many dice as you have dice in Craft/Linguistics. After you reach five dots you can take Specializations to add more Crafts/Languages to the list. - Solar Bond doesn't take background points, and the intimacy doesn't take up a slot. - For each circle of Sorcery/Necromancy you learn you learn a free Sorcery/Necromancy spell (respectively) of the appropriate circle. - Lunar Knacks cost half their normal BP/XP cost, except Deadly Beastman Transformation. - The Familiar background's effects are moved down a dot as it were (so the one-dot effect is instead the two-dot effect and so forth), follow Legendary Familiar for how a five-dot familiar works in this system. - Bleeding: Make the Medicine roll to stabilize a bleeding character be just (number of Dying levels filled) instead of the buuuuuuuullshiiiiiiit (5+ number of Dying levels filled) from the book, also remove the hooooorsecraaaaap requirement to have Resources 4 medical tools on hand. - Clinches: Clinching is split up into two sections. If you hit with the initial clinch attack then they are Grabbed. On your next action you can choose to upgrade this to Held with another opposed clinch roll. How charms interact with this will be done on a case-by-case basis but a significant number will work when Grabbed, I guess. Maybe I'll do something about damage but I don't think the damaging parts are that dangerous? (Are they?) : - Grabbed: You cannot make move/dash/jump actions. (Winning a clinch check while this is happening enables you to drag someone off somewhere via these actions) If some other effect outside of these would move or teleport someone, then the other person is dragged along with them. : - Held: Normal clinch effects (so Inactive, etc.) : - Additionally, Clinches can now (in addition of the normal use) be resisted (but not to attack with) Str(orDex)Athletics and Dex(orStr)Dodge. - All hearthstones work everywhere. Celestial Hearthstones, 'Terrestrial' Hearthstones, 'Infernal' Hearthstones, Underworld Hearthstones. ALL OF THEM. Whatever plane of existence. I guess Autochthon pre-breaking of the seals might be out of bounds but that's a logical impossibility! - Stunt 3 XP is granted to everyone. However this does mean that each person can earn PartySize extra XP per story. - If you really disagree with any of these hugely then leave a note somewhere. The Loot - Assorted 'Perfect' quality mundane loot that nobody cares about because it is largely being equipped by People. - Bandits - /Gatormen/ - Moonsilver Grand Grimcleaver Claimed by Aeron. Was sold to Tryptagore the Heranhal. - Moonsilver Superheavy Plate Claimed by Silver. - Jade Fivefold Harmonic Adapter Claimed by Jasever. - Orichalcum Hearthstone Amulet - Bracers of Universal Crafting: Note: Still attached to its original user, will required removal somehow. - Celestial Phoenix Cauldron. - "Gem of the Holy Man": This hemisphere of gold-flecked orange stone imbues its bearer with a general aura of holiness. If the character avoids words or actions that obviously contradict this aura, anyone meeting her instinctively regards her as trustworthy and devout. If they don’t know better, they may assume she is a priest. The bearer receives one additional die to any Manipulation or Charisma rolls to gain trust or convince someone of her honesty (Solar aspected) Claimed by Ariadne Silver. - Resources held by Factory-Cathedral - 2 x Sets of Resource 5 Talents of Jade - 1 x Set of Resource 5 Orichalcum Ingots The Plot (Dec 18th, 8xp) Aeron, Anna Silk, Crystal Heart Prince, Jasever and Silver Warrior Guardian went to investigate bandits who had plaguing the area. Upon finding their camp and approaching it they came under attack, but the bandits tried and failed to hurt the party - who only really spent motes to put on a show and otherwise scare and intimidate them. After enough of the bandits were killed, and the leader of that group was incapacitated the bandits surrendered; the circle claiming the spoils. Upon investigating the arms and armour the bandits wielded and wore, Anna especially (but Aeron and Jasever each had an inkling) knew instantly that they were made in a Factory-Cathedral and made strangely at that. Crystal Heart Prince, being the merciful soul began to tend to the leader of this group of bandits they fought, and upon reviving him found out that the leader of this camp was called Thousand-Leaves and he had some sort of mystical powers. Being forced to lead the way, the bandit did so while Anna scouted about and saw ahead a bandit on their lonesome. After some conversation with the bandit by Jasever and Aeron, the bandit revealed themself to be something else, Ariadne, who proceeded to insul Aeron which in turn caused a fight to brew, Aeron striking at Ariadne with his goremaul. Soon however the fight was calmed and they were ready to continue heading towards Thousand-Leaves. - (Jan 7th 2012, 10XP) Continuing forward after this, being lead by (yet to be named) Mitrus, who called ahead for them en route, and eventually they came face-to-face with the bandit leader, a God-Blooded known as Thousand-Leaves. Aeron challenged him to a duel, Thousand-Leaves accepting as he wreathed himself in his God-Blooded power. Fighting Goremaul on Staff the fight began, Thousand-Leaves drawing 'first blood' with an unexpected attack wielding his power, but alas that was not enough and over time Aeron crushed Thousand-Leaves, who thusly submitted. With this Aeron won control of the bandits, forcing the lieutenants (named Mitrus, Jyg, Manat, Likyp and Kalid) to swear fealty to him in a great display - similarly affecting the rest of the bandits. The rest of the party began to investigate the camp, Jasever spoke to Thousand-Leaves who used his elemental puissance to regenerate after the fight - and convinced him to tell them of the source of the bandits' strange (and strangely well-made) arms and armour. The others largely examined the camp in more general, eventually Crystal Heart Prince noted that there were shrines to the god of Larjyn Forest - the place the camp was set up in, he could not abide such distance from Immaculate doctrine. Thousand-Leaves draw Jasever a map and stated that the arms and armour came from an arms merchant who meets with the bandits once a month at a meeting point half-a-day south of the camp, the next meeting time being in three weeks. Having learnt all they could for the mean time, Crystal Heart Prince could not stand for uppity gods, and so convinced the more violent members of the circle to destroy a shrine to the god, and then deal with them once they manifest. Larjyn himself appeared, a tall wooden figure with a spear. Demanding to know why they just did what they did, Prince tried to convince Larjyn back to the light of the Perfected Hierarchy, it failed. So the circle crushed Larjyn, Ariadne grabbing him with sheer telekinetic power while the others proceeded to bash and cut at him until Larjyn was no more. - (Jan 14th, 8XP) Time passed. Aeron began to train his bandits; Ariadne began trying to convert them to the holy writ of Cecelyne; Anna returned to her manse to acquire some of her beemen to travel with her, including her favourite, Coh; Jasever returned to his master to train and converse. Generally people trained during the three weeks of time they had until the meeting point was set. Finally they regrouped and headed out, giving themselves a day's head start on the trip that should take half a day, before the aforementioned meeting. After some waiting and some stealth (Aeron and Ariadne steadfastly refusing to) they waited at the meeting point. Finally after day came and they still waited, in a forest clearing (or around it), their arms dealers arrived. Strange were they. A number of men in perfect quality arms and armour, who were the least noteworthy part of this caravan, and one strange, tall, hunched figure covered with concealing wraps and cloaks and the like - who spoke with a strange accent, and had a strange gait. Aeron conversed with the 'man', assuaging his fears and demanding to see the manager, with eventually the arms dealer relenting and letting them follow, just before this Silver burst onto the scene and made sure the arms dealer would think twice of fleeing. So it was the party was split temporarily. Aeron, Ariadne and Silver were on the (perfect) cart with the arms dealer as it made its slow return to wherever it was these weapons and armour were coming from. The others followed at roughly an hour behind the cart, shadowing it the entire way there. The cart travelled for about a week, after the first day of travel the cart stopped at a town, where the arms-dealer dismissed (and paid) the guards whom Aeron had hoped to convert to his side, but advice from the arms dealer (in a cryptic fashion) suggested this might be best to wait for later. The day after the cart encountered more heavily cloaked strangers seemingly akin to the arms dealer, who manages to persuade them (also Aeron kind of helped in that regard) that the three people with him were cool, and so they continued. Two days of travel hence, the cart encountered a barbaric totem, taking this as a signal of some kind the arms dealer and his fellows disrobed, revealing themselves for what they are: Alligatormen. The rest of this journey went without major note, with the exception of a river barge that was used at one point ('manned' by more alligatormen) and the increasing number of these barbaric totems and alligatorman patrols, combined with the forest slowly transitioning to becoming more jungle. Overall about a week passes in total from the meeting point to arriving at another place: A grand structure, laid in a depression in the land, with a green, rounded roof and a large camp/shanty town surrounding it and ruined structures that surrounded the relatively whole building at this 'crater''s centre. Realising some interesting facts regarding the building, the cart continued down one of the four roads that lead towards the centre as they got to observe all the... occurrances in this place.'' Meanwhile, Prince's hawk decided that this was enough and headed back quickly, telling them of what has occurred, whereupo Anna SIlk, Crystal Heart Prince and Jasever proceded to speed up, greatly, to join up with the others. Luckily although an hour behind as it were, the cart they were following was exceptionally slow and they could make good enough pace quickly. At this time the cart made it to the bottom of the hill, including them witnessing (but ignoring) the struggles of an alligatorman throttling a slave in a cage for something, the arms merchant headed inside to go get the leader of this place, while the other gatormen that were accompanying them along the way stood guard at the entrance. It was then that the others arrived, just as the unknown lunar leading this place burst out of the building, shouting and challenging Aeron to a duel. Jasever slipped through the camp/shanty town/ruins without being seen whatsoever and managed to get relatively close to the cart while still hidden; Anna took a more direct route and just charged in shouting - luckily for her distractions were present in the form of the Lunar leading this place having shouted quite a bit too. Crystal Heart Prince found some way, I am sure. The unknown Lunar, in his war form and burning with silvery essence had his demand for a duel refused, which just incensed him further - a battle was to begin. - (Jan 21th, 8xp) The fight began, Aeron won initiative and struck the Lunar, who promptly became ENRAGED and struck back pathetically. Jasever leapt from nowhere and unleashed a deleterious martial art charm upon the Lunar, followed by several attacking him and Ariadne pulling the Lunar into a telekinetic grab. Everything went downhill from there for the Lunar they were fighting. Alligatormen advanced but did not accomplish much. This fight went on for quite some time, eventually alligatormen wounded Ariadne badly as she was concentrating on keeping their opponent in a telekinetic hold, and the Lunar collapsed, before Ariadne let go of him and flew away from the fray aloft telekinetic levitation. The Lunar awoke once more, his regenerative powers combined with his heavy armour and bone plates combining to make him an impossibly tough figure - he struck at Aeron once more but to no avail, his wounds and distractions were already too great, he was promptly put down into unconsciousness once more. What followed was a scene of repeated hacking and bashing of the unconscious Lunar as the others helped clear away the Gatormen who were generally being troublesome. Eventually the Lunar was brought dangerously close to being maimed by Silver before a mysterious figure clad in prismatic silver light appeared from underneath him and rushed off on many legs deeper into the manse, disappearing with (what some heard) was the shattering of glass and the smell of ashes. The fight was won, the gatormen broke and ran, but Anna's lust for the Lunar drove her to distraction at him escaping, while Aeron's fury lay in a kill getting away. Aeron charged into the manse, draggin Silver along with him. Using this as an opportunity, Jasever and Crystal Heart Prince began to free the slaves en masse, and Anna vented her frustration (after killing a few gatormen) in trying to get something going with Crystal Heart Prince. Inside the manse, Aeron and Silver found a broken, bloodied mirror and a scarred, golden door; heading inside the door they were greated by a great mechanical voice that spoke some strange language, and a large room full of... strange things. Deciding not to be foolish and finding no further sign of the escapees, they promptly left. The wounded Ariadne headed inside to see if she could find some medical equipment or lotions to sooth her terrible wounds, in pondering where she might find such things in a place like things something happened and she changed. Aeron having left the manse decided to consolidate more forces and flew up upon the wings he manifested (also the fact he grew much taller) during the fight, still burning with malfean essence he commanded all Gatormen that hadn't left the scene entirely already to come to him, or else - it seemed to work. The helpful Crystal Heart Prince found Ariadne and offered to help with her wounds. Ariadne politely refused and wandered into the manse to find some medical equipment she knew about. Meanwhile Aeron convinced Prince to use his paladin-like 'powers' to determine among the assembled Gatormen that Aeron managed to awe and intimidate under his command, who were rapists. Upon successful completion of thise Aeron rounded them up in a slightly secret place in the shanty town part of the camp and promptly beat them to death with his hammer, 25 in their number (of the total 50 Gatormen that he found). Anna went into the manse (or was about to) when she looked at the mirror and realised its purpose: It was used as part of a Necromantic spell to cross between here and the Underworld, which the Lunar and his friend(s?) escaped to, Jasever and Prince entered the scene and she suddenly put on the charms again for him, Jasever ignoring them and heading into the manse proper. During this time, Ariadne's searches eventually found her deep in the manse, a broken medbay was found but she did find an interesting vault trapped open by a broken automaton, slipping inside she found a most strange orb suspended in a field of energy. She realised what it was: A Protoshinmaic Vortex. - (Jan 28th, 8xp) Continuing their messing around with stuff, Aeron and Silver drank and talked, Anna and Prince got it on (N.B. 2), Jasever meditated inside the manse and Ariadne came to the conclusion that there was no medical help to be found and slunk out of the manse and wandered around doing other things. At one point Anna hunted a couple of critters and added them to her Heart's Blood collection, and Prince went around preaching somewhat. Then they came. Swamp-Leading Blade, the Lunar they fought before who declared his name, and set up and ambush and although another Lunar was spotted (taking a Fox's form and being some sort of martial artist), the other and her friends were not. Fighting ensued including a hail of arrows and some sword-strokes as hidden assailents revealed themselves.These included another Lunar archer taking an owl-like form, a pair of swordsmen wearing alligatorlike forms but their condition being unknown, and similarly three archers wearing alligatormanlike forms. Ariadne got slashed and shot several times, managing to defend herself somewhat from what she could, but almost falling. Aeron wounded the first swordsman, while Silver and Jasever attacked the Fox Lunar - who expected and ducked and weaved and avoided attacks, backflipping away. Arrows headed for other people, wounding some, but Jasever expected this. Fox Lunar struck and wounded Silver slightly. The fight was about to continue. - (Feb 4th, 8xp) The fighting continued, including Ariadne fleeing and faking her own demise before turning 'into' one of the freed female slaves, and just lay out of sight for the rest of the battle so far. Jasever and Silver continued their fight with the Fox Lunar, who managed to avoid or otherwise defend against all of their attacks, leaping back again and again, Jasever however managed to use his strange martial arts to mess with the Fox's mojo, who then proceeded to retreat to hiding and was not seen for the rest of the session. Aeron and Prince together struck hard and fast at one of the gatormanthing-swordsmen, taking damage as they did and managing to eventually down it before Aeron organised a coordinated attack upon Swamp-Leading Blade, who managed to hurt Aeron for once. The other swordsgator struck randomly at one of Anna's illusions, but the Owl Lunar had more success, scrutinising them with occult puissance, she fired and hit and wounded Anna, managing to disrupt her spell. The gatormanthing archers shot repeatedly at various peoples, with some success, some failure but were themselves unaccosted. Jasever, Silver, Prince and Aeron all commenced the coordinated assault, dealing Swamp-Leading Blade some damage, wounding him, although due to his exceptional toughness they could only wound him so much with their attacks, even coordinated. Anna once more began casting her spell, and although the Owl Lunar tried to interrupt it once more (and managed to hit and wound Anna, by sheer luck), Anna finished casting her spell... MAGMA KRAKEN. - (Feb 11th, 8xp) More fighting ensued. Swamp-Leading Blade headed insight and taunted the rest, who mostly followed, enraged at the threat of innocents, Crystal Heart Prince followed first, stabbing at Swamp-Leading Blade and hurting him a little, however Jasever followed swiftly and grabbed and began crushing Swamp-Leading Blade in his burning aura. The others that followed (Silver and Aeron) began assaulting the grabbed Swamp-Leading Blade, eventually leading to his downfall. In the meantime the Owl Lunar retaliated and Jasever's canny abilities lead to Swamp-Leading Blade sharing being the target of the Owl Lunar's arrows, a similar occurence happened when the Swordsman entered the room and attacked, having his blow go partly into Swamp-Leading Blade. All the while, the summoned Magma Kraken was having mixed results, having grabbed one archer - who was soon cut down by the remaining swordsman, while the archers shot Anna again and again with arrows, slowly weakening her in her incredible toughness. Silver and the Owl Lunar exchanged words, and the Owl Lunar left, flying away. Sooner afterwards as Jasever crushed Swamp-Leading Blade in his fiery grasp, Silver slashed and hacked at him with her claws and Aeron pummeled him with his hammer - Swamp-Leading Blade died, his body destroyed by the forces at work. It was at this point that Anna fell to the earth, too many arrows over too short of time, Aeron, ignoring the Swordsman who fought Silver, Prince and Jasever almost mindlessly now that Swamp-Leading Blade was dead, went outside and found her, rushing over to her and covering her body with his, deflecting and ignoring all arrows fired his way. Over time, one archer was grabbed and crushed and burned en masse by the tentacles as the rest of the archers were retreating, before they turned their attention to the unconscious swordsman from earlier, who they similarly destroyed, also starting a hazardous fire. Leaving Silver and Jasever to deal with the remaining swordsman, Prince went outside to find Aeron cradling Anna's body, whom he quickly (and with great aptitude) beneedled with his healing needles and went about trying to put out the fire that had just been started. Silver grabbed ahold of the final swordsman and together with Jasever they ceased his life too. Strangely, the Fox Lunar was not seen again for the battle. Ariadne maintained her pretenses of being something she wasn't, in order to save her skin, and it seemed to have worked. The battle was won. - (Feb 18th, 8xp) The aftermath had begun. Ariadne was still missing and so Jasever and Crystal Heart Prince begun to look for her thoroughly. Seemingly disrespected by their lack of presence in battle, Aeron forced his gatormen to chop up the body of Swamp-Leading Blade into tiny chunks and form a stew out of it, spiced - but still cannibalism. Meanwhile, Silver inspected the remaining civilians who had long fled into the manse (but not too far), finding them as they had initially found them, before the battle. Having found a random civilian who was playing dead and was outside the manse, Prince assessed the dangers and sent them inside to be tended to with others who might be injured inside, forming a sick bay, including a formerly-unconscious yet still heavily wounded Anna. Having spent more time than normally willing inside the manse, and having been given the all-clear, most of the civilians left the manse and went outside to do whatever it is they do. A few remained behind including a mortal who introduced himself as Gyrt, a former smith - who suggested that if they wish to save more people they should check on resource-gathering sites nearby that Swamp-Leading Blade was using to get stone, wood, leather, and metal for the Factory-Cathedral. Anna goes to sleep in order to heal faster, Crystal Heart Prince uses his needles to provide healing to those who wish to have it, including the mysterious civilian, and Aeron. Jasever heads off into the manse to see if Ariadne is to be found there, on the way he comes across a Protoshinmaic Vortex in some sort of energy field in the basement, a secret area barricaded by a line of salt and with strange ghostly illusions of a maze inside that he sees as wise to deal with later, and a defiled chapel to the Unconquered Sun at the zenith of the manse. Desiring a map of Gyrt's knowledge, Silver seeks out and finds parchment, an inkwell and quills which she returns to Gyrt with - however Gyrt being a mere mortal is fatigued from the day's trials and seeks to sleep before he can reliably draw a map, Silver concedes. Upon Jasever's return to the sick bay (where Prince is to be found as he tends to the wounded), Prince has realised that Ariadne is disguising herself as the civilian, but she wishes that knowledge to remain hidden - Jasever (consequently) reports that Ariadne is nowhere to be found, Prince is willing to maintain the ruse and instead makes roundabout references to Ariadne rather than reveal her location - due to her paranoia (or perhaps it is appropriate fear?) that the Lunars may have infiltrated the party or at the least the civilians. Jasever gives a report of what he found otherwise, piquing some peoples' interests - Anna's beepeople remain attending her sleeping form and otherwise listening for things that might interest her when she awakens. Finally they all rest for the night, as the sun set a while ago, what tomorrow will bring - few know. - (Feb 25th, 8xp) The first day of rest involved Gyrt drawing his map of the area, detailing a creepy graveyard (as a landmark), a mine, a logging camp, a hunting camp and a quarry. Ariadne tried and failed to pray to Cecelyne. More healing continued bringing most (if not all) to full healing. The second day started with a plan being drawn up, with Aeron, Prince and Silver to go and check out the locations on Gyrt's map, while Anna, Ariadne and Jasever were to check out the manse. Aeron/Prince/Silver were to start tomorrow, but Anna/Ariadne/Jasever decided to get a head start on the manse and Jasever lead the way to find the maze he previously encountered. Realising what he might well encounter he collected a bag and broke the salt line to take salt into the darkness - as he would need to salt the body that lay within. Disbelieving the maze, Jasever continued until he was attacked by an unmanifested entity, however his puissance in these ways allowed him to defend himself against the unseen, not-there entity and he moved faster hoping to find the body sooner - encountering a control panel that he quickly deciphered he opened a door with it and found the hearth room - and a control center, with a corpse in the chair. Anna and Ariadne followed along, Ariadne using her essence sight to see the hungry ghost. Quickly did Jasever salt the corpse and with that the hungry ghost was gone forever. A 'plethora' of artifacts were found on or around the body, however, some of which may become quite useful to the Exalted over time. - (Mar 3rd, 8xp) Having found this all out, Jasever and the others returned to Aeron and informed him of what they discovered. Puzzling over the mention of a secondary control panel, they used their memories and worked out something about what Gyrt said, which meant that there must be something in the central pillar in the main workroom of the manse. Heading there, they spent some time trying to read the Old Realm runes that lay upon its keys (Ariadne being the only one who knows the language, thus far) with in some places there being slates chalked in Clawspeak (a message left by the previous Lunars, likely for each other). Eventually they worked it out and managed to turn it on, Ariadne deciding to see if it could tell her what was needed for a Moonsilver Grand Gorehammer, with negative results - seemingly its database of artifact definitions has become corrupted. The rest of the day was spent doing other, less pressing things, including Aeron and Silver spending the late hours together. Aeron, Prince and Silver headed out in the morning for the areas mapped out by Gyrt, with a few civilians with them, and all the gatormen. It seems that the enemy used scorched earth tactics, as they found out when the arrived at their first destination, the mines, where a pile of former slave corpses lay, a burnt out shack, and a collapsed mine entrance. Prince's incredible tracking skills worked out that they had likely come from the east, from another location on the manse and headed off somewhere south-west. Silver used her great strength to clear the blockage of the mine entrance, and repair it where possible. Prince tended to the bodies, recovering burnable wood from the former shack and other places, starting a funereal pyre - salt applied and all. They then headed into the mines to check it out, Aeron lighting the way with the sickly green glow of his caste mark. They found and investigated a mine cart held therein, and generally put down looking into the mine being for another time. Aeron, Prince, Silver and their cohorts and followers, followed the trail to the south west, the journey of several hours ended with them coming upon the quarry on the map, finding similar devastation. This time Prince deteremined the tracks to head off farther to the south, which would go off of the map, Aeron sent Gyrt and the other civilians home - Prince guarding them the way there. Aeron, Silver and the gatormen followed the trail, Silver using her supernatural puissance of tracking from her hearthstone to aid this. Four hours later the sun was setting and the trail had not yet ended, it seems that the Lunars have left the area. Fine with this, they headed back to the manse, arriving there at midnight, and going sleep. - (Mar 10th, 8xp) Jasever and Prince headed off to meet with Jasever's sifu, Kalukin. They took the reverse of the journey they needed to get to the Factory-Cathedral. Arriving at the site without issue, they climbed the hill that Kalukin dwelt upon, coming into a cave (with Clawspeak markings), they found him sat, meditating in front of a stone hunt built inside the cave. Speaking with him they conversed about things, and Crystla Heart Prince (and Jasever) learnt things about the Lunar and Solar Exalted. Following this they sparred, in turns, learning many things and growing stronger, including Crystal Heart Prince becoming Enlightened. Ariadne was busy, she organised together the mortal former slaves and spoke to their very souls. They would gladly become her savants that she would train for her purposes. She especially singled out a man called Nurtu who formerly held positions of leadership before his enslavement, and Gifted him skill in bureaucratic manners, she then had him organise the former slaves together. As this was happening she set about checking out the land and trying to form it to be sustainable so that the mortals can live here for much longer. By the end of the day she prayed to Cecelyne, and received some omens, including a change of outfit. Aeron set things into motion, sending a group (including the arms merchant) of gatormen to the Larjyn Forest camp to move the bandits down to the Factory Cathedral, he also had a group of 12 come with him to Malfeas. Heading west, he first found a Shadowlands about a dismal graveyard, dismissing this place he continued west and found an old windmill that sat on desolate land, climbing its stairs he climbed for much longer than he possibly could and found himself in the desert of Cecelyne for his troubles. An hour of travel towards the Demon City later he met a traveller going in the opposite direction, they did not say much, but he did note him, before continuing. Eventually (after the 5 days) he arrived at Malfeas and went inside in order to spread his name and deeds. Finding the eternal party of Lillun to be a good place his voice boomed over the crowd and he whipped them into a frenzy, even granting him an audience with Lillun herself. The following morning he headed off to a demon smith known as Tryptagore, a named he learned from Lillun. He met with the demon, and convinced the demon to part with a Starmetal Grand Goremaul, made from one of the former heavenly ambassadors who failed, for the Moonsilver Grand Grimcleaver that Aeron had carried all the way there. Following a few more days of partying, Aeron left the demon city and headed back to Creation. - (Mar 17, 8xp) NOTE: The exact order of things happening in this are not.... particularly in order. Suffice it to say that Ariadne's first actions preceed the rest when it starts timing up together. Ariadne began promoting more and more of the former slaves into savants, granting them fully knowledge of the Occult as well as mastery of specific Thaumaturgies, at a rate of 1/day, following setting this in motion Ariadne also spent time scouting around for wyld pockets, finding none. Jasever and Crystal Heart Prince trained as much as they could with Kalukin, given their circumstances - and Kalukin rewarded Jasever for his first completion of a Celestial style, a pair of Starmetal Perfected Kata Bracers. They talked of things they saw, and finally Kalukin bid them farewell and they continued back to the Factory-Cathedral. Time passed. Anna went into the manse and did a diagnostic on its stores, finding a list including an incomplete damage report - which in turn advised use of autorepair systems - especially so on the "Causality Maintenance Filters", she turned the automatic repair systems on and left the manse as however it was repairing this... strange thing, it was making her queasy. Following this, Silver and Anna conversed about things, and talked about Ariadne. While this is happening Ariadne entered the manse, found the weird queasiness disturbing and left, but was intercepted as she left by a mysterious stranger who introduced himself as Unconquered Horizon, wrapped in bandages and scarves, apparently a man, with a sword across his back, what else could not be discerned - however it was determined that he was assigned as Ariadne's bodyguard, and after oting this he vanished from sight, Ariadne being able to work out that he turned invisible yet still there. Ariadne continued walking about that evening, and met up with Silver and Anna quite quickly, Silver wished to be smarter, and she got her wish. Jasever and Crystal Heart Prince arrived back at the manse during this very conversation and spoke of things. The following day Thousand-Leaves and his bandits arrived, as well as the gatormen sent to fetch them. Having few places to sleep, the bandits brought carts with them carrying remnants of their previous base, and quickly went onto building themselves shelter in the site around the Factory-Cathedral, as well as tree-house-type defenses and look-out posts up in the trees of the forest surrounding the 'crater', Silver helping them. By this time the Factory-Cathedral's repairs should have completed and Anna checked its displays - the "Causality Maintenance Filters" had been repaired/cleared but it now granted the choice as to whether or not to continue repairs or to cancel - Anna choosing to cancel and used its current resources to build prefab housing, notably the one-unit small houses, ordering it to build 10 of them - with that another option appeared and she chose to give them glass windows (at a waste, because certain containers were damaged). A few days later and the bandits had built their look out points and barracks/store houses and begun to staff them. By this point the prefab housing had been built. Anna instructed Nurtu on building the houses, which he organised. Jasever decided to go about the task of organising a number of the former slaves to man the lumber camp and get more wood. Two days pass and Jasever's camp has managed to get two units of wood, while the prefab housing had been built. At this point, Aeron returned, with his new things. He and Silver conversed. Meanwhile, a red-haired man in a cloak walked somewhere. - (Mar 24, 8xp) Aeron, having arrived, busied himself with details with his lieutenant, Thousand-Leaves and wished to be alone while doing so. Prince inquired into the history of the anathaema to Ariadne, who was generally unhelpful and just towed the party line (the Yozi Party). Jasever continued overseeing the lumberjacks and during his spare time meditated in front of a lake, in order to align his elemental essence waterwards. Prince and Silver conversed. Aeron had FINISHED being private, Anna and Thousand-Leaves gave him a status report on the current occurances at the Factory-Cathedral. Thousand-Leaves then painted a picture of the local surroundings, Aeron setting his sights for his first conquest on the nearby city-state of Matetha. Thus it was Aeron declared that they and his army march at dawn, Aeron chose to leave his 'regular' bandits behind to guard the Factory-Cathedral. Later that afternoon a man arrived at the Factory-Cathedral. With bright red hair and a multicoloured cloak he wore over his body, the party were at first very suspicious of him, but he replied calmly and confidently, revealing things as it went by, including his name Saffron King of the Orchid - eventually several members of the party (particularly Silver, whom he has begun to teach Silver Pact etiquette to) warmed to him in addition to him revealing information about Iridescent Clementine and Venerable Seeker the two remaining Lunars that they drove off of the Factory-Cathedral in the first place. So it was they set off in the morning, Silver inviting King to attend, he accepted and they travelled off towards the nearest town, Tyraziq. During these travels (five days it should take) Silver conversed with King and learnt things about the political structure of the Silver Pact. - (Mar 31, 8xp) With Anna (in bird form) and Jasever scouting ahead there was going to be no surprises, and upon the fifth day of travel did they encounter a great clearing (or edge thereof; it was difficult to determine) within the forest they were currently travelling through. Anna and Jasever further realised their scouting and more accurately determined this to be where the town was, seeing a number of guards at the south and north entrances. Knowing this, Aeron had them advance - although there was some... mix up in communications and Anna began to cast Magma Kraken on the town, which Aeron summarily put a stop to as he wanted the place existent, not a burned hole in the ground. So it was they advanced, provoking much alarm from the town; Aeron and Silver leading different regiments, with Thousand-Leaves, Anna, (Ariadne?), and King with Silver and the bandits (with two Lieutenants) and the two Dragonblooded with Aeron, the remaining Lieutenants and his Gatormen. A regiment of one-hundred men formed up in front of the gate to town and a figure loudly inquired as to Aeron's purpose here; Aeron stated his intent to conquer this place, noting his mercy if they surrendered now. The man atop the wall refused him and War was joined. What followed was a slaughter, Aeron and his gatormen rushed into the fray and cut down an entire one-hundred-man regiment (which brandished a banner (and tabards) of a black tree on a red background) in but a minute, leaving its leader shaken at this prospect. Another, different regiment emerged from the town, lead by a large, hammer-wielding man which charged at Aeron, inflictng some wounds but not enough to reduce Aeron's numbers truly. Aeron's gatormen promptly struck back - cutting down many men, but not destroying the opposing unit; however once Silver's bandits rushed in the battle was over, the remaining opponents were destroyed and dispersed. His opponent promptly surrendered at this. With that, Aeron's men entered the town and began looting, threatening to kill any that resist. SILVER DISAPPROVED. Prince stayed behind to tend to the injured that remained after that battle, Anna helped for PERFECTLY ALTRUISTIC REASONS (and not just so she can eat some disease ho yez), Jasever remained because he was Jasever. Within the town, Thousand-Leaves was sent out to gather information and also find prison cells, etc for the former leaders of this place. and after a brief chat with King, Silver spoke with Aeron in private, Aeron decided to go check on Thousand-Leaves, finding a map of the local area and to plot his next destination. - (Apr 7, 8+5 XP (plot XP included)) As Aeron is still checking out the mayor's office with Thousand-Leaves, Silver and Ariadne decided to go find King who is now hanging out at an empty bar, having looted himself something to drink (a passed out man with a conical hat covering his face is sat in a booth in a corner). They spoke to him, Ariadne inquire as to the presence of a Wyld Zone, which King detailed the nearest one being on an island on the relatively nearby Sandy River. Elsewhere, Jasever continued his temperant patrolling. Meanwhile Aeron CONVINCED Jyrax to become motivated, which succeeded! Thus it was that Jyrax put his lot in, while also talking of the local area, namely the two nearest towns of Atiresh and Kyziam. At this point Crystal Heart Prince bursts in, forcing Aeron to bid all non-Exalts to leave the scene as they discussed things. Crystal Heart Prince showed DISPLEASURE in Aeron's handling of this place, and they discussed things back and forth. At this point Aeron decided to make his announcement, and went outside. Gathering a crowd in the town square, including Silver, Ariadne, Prince, Jasever (who was already there), and Anna, Aeron makes his speech. The speech, passionate as always, amounted to the populace being able to take what they need from the pile of loot as long as they swore fealty to Aeron, which was universal amongst the people of the town. Following the speech, Ariadne bothered Aeron and spoke about an expedition to the nearby Wyld Zone in order for her to form wealth from the hedged-in chaos - Aeron having little patience due to her demeanor. Aeron retired to the mayor's office again with the leadership and plotted the future. The crowd having long left, Prince and Jasever discussed martial arts in the streets. At one point a drunk wandered over to them, and was initially a nuisance but let slip that the reason he bothered them was because he knows of a martial arts tournament known as The Fist of Bronze, and that he would be attending and that they might be interested. Following this he stumbled off. Ariadne wished to fulfill her plan and intended to bring the Lunars in the party in to help her in the Wyld Zone, eventually convincing Silver to come along as long as King is with her. Because of this, Silver convinces King to train her in a relevant anti-Wyld charm. - (Apr 21, 8 XP) It being afternoon now, Aeron planned to send messengers in the morning to the nearby towns of Atiresh and Kyziam. Anna and Ariadne began preparations to summon demons to do their bidding. Ariadne, being the Green Sun Prince that she is managed to summon and bind hers first, an Agata, and later at midnight Anna too succeeded in summoning and binding an Agata. Taking this as a great opportunity to spread FEAR, Aeron commandeered the newly summoned hell-wasp of Anna's and flew off after midnight to the nearest town to this one: Atiresh. There he showed up 'quietly' to a tavern open late and spread stories of FEAR and TERROR about the BRUTALITY of HE WHO IS AERON, which seemed to have some success. Following this, Aeron got returned back to Tyraziq on the Agata. With the new dawn came Silver training more with King, Aeron used more time that Anna had the Agata bound to him for to scout the surrounding area from the air, others trained and did their thing. When night came Anna and Ariadne prepared and performed their respective summonings, adding two more Agatae to their control. The third day does not pass without note as a messenger arrives for Aeron, returning from Atiresh an inquiry is made which Aeron replies with and sends a messenger back in the morning. By the third night they each have summoned and bound a third Agata. The fourth day of training and rest and the like involves a messenger arriving from Kyziam, but their reply is different instead the rulers of Kyziam, Jari and Rajy, seek to meet with Aeron. Aeron begins to draw plans to go there personally with an entourage on the backs of Agatae. Anna takes the time out to go with some Agatae to the Factory-Cathedral and retrieve the children she left there. The Factory-Cathedral seems as she left it. - (Apr 28, 8 XP) Anna, meeting with Cah at the Factory Cathedral is given a message scroll that a Mysterious Stranger brought to give to her, and then vanished. On Anna's way back with Cah and the others she opened it to find that it was in Clawspeak. Ariadne, Silver and King head off towards the Wyld Zone on agatae. Soon they arrive nearby and take their time scoping it out, Ariadne determines that it is of Middlemarches strength. They then proceed to land on the island in a creepy clearing, and walk around a little finding a weird road with weird people at one end doing something weird. Choosing this place as a perfect spot for her wyld shaping, Ariadne begins, having the others guard her. While this is happening the Weird Faceless People walk past, probably not even real things and general creepiness occurs, but at the end of the ritual Ariadne creates Resources 5 of jade, and a Heroic Agata called Lex. Following this, Ariadne, Silver, King and Lex leave to go rest and head back in the morning. The second day of this is similar and Ariadne forms another set of jade resources, and Heroic Stomach Bottle Bug named Mardri. They head back and rest, as per usual. The third day ends more weirdly as prior to the ritual finishing Silver noticed that Something was watching them, and upon spending the time and creating some orichalcum and a Tomescu named Sil does a strange Thing begin to speak in mad rhymes through the trees to them, implying that it realises that something is weird about Ariadne (as she burns with Infernal glory), and seemingly ignoring Silver and King. What it wants is unknown... for now... 'Meanwhile' Aeron, Anna, Jasever and Prince head off to go visit Kyziam on agatae. They land in the town square and are greeted by a masked courtier who leads them to Jari and Rajy, in the castle/palace that sits amidst the town. Meeting with the pair, their discussion ends with the proposal of a duel over the town, should Aeron win the town is his, should whatever mercenaries Rajy and Jari have hired win then they will be able to command a task of Aeron, and he will be forbidden from laying claim upon Kyziam forevermore. Accepting, Aeron and friends rush out to the town square, where the duel would take place, and finally meet their opponents. A group of four figures bedecked in dark coloured clothing and armour with certain... morbid themes present make their appearance, the masked courtier from before seemingly having been one all along... - (May 5, 8 XP) Rajy sets forth the rules of the conflict to be: No sorcery/necromancy; you are allowed to submit at any time and allowed to retreat from the fight unhurt should you do so; falling unconscious counts as submission; a side wins when the opposite side has entirely submitted/fallen unconscious; death is not the aim - keep this in mind (I think that was all, if I forgot any that is because of the BSOD my logs are shit). The opponents did their preparations, the archer and hag suddenly beginning to move in a weirdly flowing manner. The others entered various stances, most notably the 'scythe guy' stabbed his scythe into the ground and started to fight barehanded, his stance a vicious and aggressive one. The fight began, Aeron moved first and charged, lunging at the masked archer-courtier (???) while simultaneously trying to set up a coordinated attack upon the ugly hag. The man dissolved into shadows in order to avoid Aeron's first attack before reapparing and tripping Aeron up, ruining the rest of Aeron's attacks. Everyone else moved... their efforts were not entirely successful. Jasever had the most luck with managing to get two light blows on the hag. Prince's attack hit only moving shadow as the hag dissolved away like the archer. Anna just plainly missed. Aeron made a number of attacks, them all missing either by normal means or due to their supernatural puissance, the 'scythe man' who had discarded his scythe counterattacked (albeit unsuccessfully). Of the opponents, the robed man lunged at Prince repeatedly having spontaneously grown bone spurs on his hands and knuckles, Prince deflecting the flurry of blows with parries and puffs of steam. The fell, armoured warrior lunged at Aeron in a supernaturally quickened manner, his blade fading into and out of reality as he managed six attacks in a blink of an eye, only one managed to hit Aeron truly, but it stung and it seeped away some of Aeron's very essence... the others had 'yet to move' but the fight had definitely began... - (May 12, 8 XP) Fighting continued as the hag set her eyes and hands aflame with black energies and pelted Anna with a couple of blasts, hurting her a little. The archer leapt from a pillar and fired off an inhumanly fast flurry of arrows at Prince, hurting him somewhat (albeit nonlethally, as these are fowling arrows), the bow making weird wailing noises with each shot. Jasever calmed his movements and began observing the fight more deeply, in particular the hag. Prince struck heavily at the Hag, but missed. Aeron charged the hag, who perfectly dodged against his assault, dissolving away and reappearing. The armoured warrior performed another magical flurry at Aeron, however this time he had no success. The robed martial artist struck at Prince multiple times, wounding him somewhat, and causing Prince to go into Anima Flux. The hag pelted Anna with blasts of entropy again, in response Anna dissolved into a swarm of bees - unfortunately this was her undoing as in the pain Anna fell unconscious, withdrawing from the fight. Anna healed herself back to consciousness and left the fight. The archer fired a salvo of arrows at Prince, this time these were enough to drive him to unconsciousness, and althoug the archer had a chance to finish off Prince with this assault, honourably he refused and instead destroyed some nearby terrain. Jasever maintained his watch of the field, preparing for a barrage of blows later on. Aeron lashed out at the archer, hurting him badly in the attack. The armoured warrior lashed out with another supernatural flurry at Aeron, but missed again once more. The robed figure attacked Jasever in a flurry of blows, however he was less successful. The hag pelted more bolts of underworld energies at Jasever, missing. Jasever managed to infer a weakness on the Hag's part: Holy charms. The archer submitted, withdrawing from the fight. Aeron waited a moment, daring the others to attack him. Armoured warrior tried once more with that magical flurry and again wasn't successful. The robed martial artist tried another flurry of blows at Jasever, but alas he failed. The hag targeted Aeron this time with her crypt bolts - but they were insufficient to hit him. Aeron then swung at the robed martial artist, and was successful, wounding him somewhat - but now his flesh gained a marble-like quality to it, hardening in response. In response the armoured warrior swung at Aeron in a mystic flurry once more, and once more was not successful. Still not down yet, the 'scythe guy' flurried at Aeron, missing unfortunately. The hag flurried off a couple of entropic blasts - alas they were not good enough to penetrate Aeron's defenses. Aeron lashed out at the robed martial artist again, this time he was more successful, drawing more blood. Jasever exploded into action now, striking significant flurries against both the robed martial artist and the hag, although these did little damage they inflicted Quiescence upon the, which they resisted... for now. It was at this point that the armoured (amused as he was) conceded the fight, and left with his fellows. Aeron, the victor, claimed the town of Kyziam. A medic of some descriptor was brought in to tend to Prince. After commanding the able-bodied, etc. to move up and announce themselves, it was Rajy, the previous owner of this place who noted quietly to Aeron (once he was sure the 'mercenaries' were gone and out of earshot) that they were not in fact mercenaries... that was a lie they told him to tell Aeron... - (May 19, 8 XP) Ariadne tried to convince the Thing otherwise. It was having none of it as it professed love towards Ariadne, it appeared and its form etched everything its horrific and indescribable mass touched. As it advanced on her, the others prepared - it seemingly oblivious to their warlike preparations, but soon for better or for not, the fight was on. To those in the know, the creature was seemingly a Chimera. Unconquered Horizon, having previously been guarding Ariadne invisibly stepped into action and struck at it multiple times in some fashion, hurting it somewhat and managing to slow it down somehow. Given the chance, Silver, King and Ariadne all tried but failed to even hit the creature - even wounded its speed was inhuman, and it swiftly ignored the pain of its wounds via a supernatural rage that overcame it. It retaliated, causing Unconquered Horizon to (invisibly) pull Ariadne out of the way of the many attacks it made with its claws and a stinger tail. Unconquered Horizon struck at it once more, but this time it managed to avoid his attacks and dodged off in between Ariadne and where she came from. King tries to attack it but he misses once more. The Thing struck at Ariadne once more with another scything mass of terrifying limbs, Unconquered Horizon once more pulled Ariadne out of the way however on two occasions during this assault did he in fact get injured by its attacks - however minor to him, drawing blood. Turning visible, Unconquered Horizon revealed his true form of a tall man, wielding a large black-green sword and swathed in bandages or scarves or something that otherwise concealed his form. He struck at the beast once more and this time scored a supernaturally deadly blow upon it, searing its flesh with green flames and tainting it - causing it to begin to slow down somewhat, even as it ignore the majority of its wounds. Ariadne began to retreat to her Agatae. Silver attacked the thing, wounding it a little. King attacked and hit it, but failed to hurt it. Unconquered Horizon struck at it again, wounding somewhat. It tried to move past Unconquered Horizon in order to get to Ariadne, who had arrived at her Agatae and was waiting for the others to join her. HE DEMANDED IT KNEEL OR BE KNELT. It was knelt, causing it to unleash its flurry instead on Unconquered Horizon, who managed to expertly parry its attacks, it laying on the floor of the forest now, disease coursing through its veins. Silver makes a break for it, Unconquered Horizon in tow (having a sudden burst of alacrity) and the Agatae move into the air. King flies up to meet the Agatae who are just about to use their charms and portal out of there. The Thing springs up and flies with its too many wings straight at Ariadne, silver blazing about it as one final assault is unleashed. Ariadne manages to parry two herself, Unconquered Horizon manages to pull her out of the way of two attacks. The rest go through however and tear into Ariadne, the Thing decapitating her as the bugs simultaneously create and move through their portal. The Thing acts in a mystifying fashion as though Ariadne went somewhere, her now being dead, it tosses her head that it claimed away and flies off. The rest of the group breathe a sigh of relief and the Agatae soon fly down to a decent landing point as it begins to rain dramatically. Then the summoned Agatae vanish into the aether, leaving behind the bigger Agata that Ariadne had created recently, as well as a Stomach Bottle Bug and a Tomescu. Unconquered Horizon sets about digging a grave for Ariadne. Silver mourns her and begins to chat to the remaining Agata, Lex, about things in Old Realm. Unconquered Horizon breaks his eternal silence in order to mention that any final looting of Ariadne's body will begin now, as he intends to bury her thusly. Silver recovered a hearthstone for the Factory-Cathedral, and Unconquered Horizon proceeds to bury her. Then he moves off somewhere, meditates for a while before finally rising and bidding farewell, and leaving. Silver manages to convince Lex to at the very least transport her and King back to where the rest of the party would or should be. Not much else is said as the gloom settles on the scene. Logs /18 Dec 2011 /7 Jan 2012 /14 Jan 2012 /21 Jan 2012 /28 Jan 2012 /4 Feb 2012 /11 Feb 2012 /18 Feb 2012 /25 Feb 2012 /3 Mar 2012 /10 Mar 2012 /17 Mar 2012 /24 Mar 2012 /31 Mar 2012 /7 Apr 2012 /21 Apr 2012 /28 Apr 2012 /5 May 2012 /12 May 2012 /19 May 2012